The Tragic Orange Sky
by ra1n
Summary: The team is once again back together, this time in Miami, up to the same old tricks. Brian, discharged from the police force, has joined them. This time, they don't deal in merchandise. They deal in cash.
1. A Year Later

They were all sitting in the living room of the Toretto house, which was now located in Miami, silently waiting for the last two members of the team to show up. It was late afternoon, and the sun was about to set, giving all of Miami its famous orange sky. Damn it, Dom thought. Jesse and Leon were always late. It had been more than a year since Brian entered the spectrum, and now, with him losing his job with the police force, he was just another part of the team, assisting in whatever scheme was necessary to obtain money for the small enterprise. They had opened up a small garage, just like what they had in California but were forced to abandon more than a year before.

The door opened, loudly, the footsteps of Jesse and Leon echoed on the wood floor as everyone in the living room turned their heads to meet the eyes of their teammates. Leon's looked calm, placid, like he always was before a job. Jesse's eyes looked big and glassy, like he had just taken something. He looked a little jittery, too, but then again… when was Jesse not jittery. All of them dismissed it as nothing. Jesse had been back to his old self after recovering from his near fatal bullet wounds from Johnny Tran and his cousin Lance. The pair walked into the living room, making eye contact with each member of the team as a somewhat salute to their friends. Leon noticed that Brian and Vince were sitting next to each other. After the last incident, they had both developed a mutual respect for one another, considering the fact that Brian saved Vince's life, and risked his own by giving away that he was a cop in front of Dom. They were cool with one another, almost like a borderline friendship. Leon and Jesse sat down, one on the floor, the other in a vacant armchair. "Sorry, brotha. Cops, man," Leon explained as he apologized to Dom. Dom, being the understanding person that he was, nodded in acceptance. Brian, Mia, Dom, Letty, Vince, Jesse, and Leon were together as The Team once again.

"Is everyone ready for this?" Dom inquired with his low, gravelly voice. Everyone nodded in concurrence. All of them were very nervous, considering that this was the first big job that they had done since the trucks. "Any questions? Does everyone know where they are supposed to be?" Dom asked, wanting to be sure that the plan was going to go smooth. Once again, everyone in the room nodded. "Let's do this," He commanded, assuring himself that this was going to work. Dressed all in black, they got up and headed for the door. They walked outside, eyeing the huge sun that began to set in the horizon, leaving its orange sky behind it. The seven of them got into three black Honda Civics, and rode off into the sunset. Toward Winston Technical Labs, the biggest vault in south Miami.


	2. The Plan

Riding in the cars, all of the team members had a sense of trepidation about them. The last time they tried something of this nature, two of the members were nearly killed and the team almost ripped apart. Dominic driving Vince and Letty, Brian with Mia, and the inseparable friends Leon and Jesse riding together, all of them thought about the plan that they had spent months devising, each member contributing equally and integrally to the entire scheme. This plan was a half overt, half covert tactical operation. All of the members were equipped for it. Dressed in all black, combat boots, and wearing rolled up ski masks as beanies on their heads, they looked the part of what they were about to play. They also had a small change from the last time that they did jobs. Everyone carried guns. There was Brian with his knowledge of tactical procedure, Jesse with his knowledge of an infinite amount of machinations, and Dom with his connections. The others were less involved in the planning of the operation, yet still were essential in the execution of the plan.

The plan was to go like this: Mia and Letty were to walk in, playing the clueless girls who did not know where a certain part of the building was. They were to use their charm to lure the guards into an almost trance, and then when they least expected it, pull out their guns and bind the guards, leaving them in the entrance lobby bathroom.

Jesse and Leon were to enter from the underground parking garage which, as they had researched, had a door, which would lead to the main underground corridor. This hall was what held the main power room, along with the surveillance office.

Leon would go to the surveillance office and cut the cameras to the basement vault room, which consequently would mean cutting the cameras to the first five levels. This was certainly no problem. Next to come would be the silent alarms. This would be a little harder. Alarms couldn't be just shut off. They had to be disabled for a small amount of time, and when that time was up, the alarm had to be disabled again. This time limit was 45 seconds. Leon would have to repeatedly disable it.

Jesse was to go straight to the vault along with all of his drilling equipment. He would start once he got an OK from Leon on the radio. He would know exactly where to drill and for how long.

Dom, Brian, and Vince would come in after Mia and Letty. They would take main elevator number 4, the only one with a button leading to the bottom floor, and go to the said location. There they would meet Jesse in the main vault room, which was at the end of the corridor, protected by only a simple steel door and a guard. Once inside that door, Jesse would go to work. After they had gotten in, they would load their bags up with cash, go back out the parking garage, and no one would know what the hell happened.

The cars pulled in the driveway to Winston Tech. they drove into the parking garage, going to the lowest level, finding three adjacent spots. Everyone stepped out of the cars. It was now in the evening, and a cool, yet not cold breeze swept over them, just enough to let the team know that it was nighttime. They exited the cars, all with the same look of seriousness on their faces. Letty stepped into Dom's open arms, and he kissed her with assurance. Brian and Mia did the same, and then all of the man slapped hands as a sign of good luck.

"Let's do it," Dom said, ready for work.


	3. The Job

Jesse and Leon entered through the simply-picked lock that guarded the main underground corridor. Walking through the hall, masks rolled over their faces, they silently went straight to their designated areas. Leon went into the security room, while Jesse waited outside. Leon threw open the door, as the fat guard jumped out of his chair, fumbling with the gun on his belt. Leon strode across the room, delivered a well-aimed kick to the guard's stomach, and then pistol-whipping him on the back of the neck, knocking him instantly unconscious. Leon walked over to the control switchboard, turning off the cameras to the basement level, along with levels 1 to 5. He walked across the room, opened the door, and gave Jesse the "ok" signal. Jesse with some of his drilling equipment strapped to his back went down to the corner, at which a left turn would lead to the vault room. He turned the corner with his pistol drawn, seeing the guard about 100 feet ahead of him. He stood up from his chair, with his hand on top of the gun on his side holding his other hand out in a sort of "stop" gesture. In response, Jesse shot him in the legs.

"Alright, we're in, guys. Mia, Letty: it's all you," all of the radios spoke simultaneously. Letty kissed Dom, and Mia kissed Brian

Letty and Mia walked in on cue from Leon's radio transmission. They were both dressed to kill. They were both wearing black gloves, so as to not leave fingerprints behind. Mia wore a leather jacket, boots, and miniskirt. Letty, who took a more badass approach to the subject, was wearing PVC flares, almost like a cat suit, with a mid-level overcoat, fitting her form nicely. She wore a leg holster, while Mia, obviously wearing less, wore a shoulder harness for her gun. Their entrance was worthy of slow-motion in a movie. They, walking side by side, approached the desk with the two guards in the center of the lobby. They smiled, and the guards reciprocated.

"Could you tell us where the main engine fabrication room is?" Mia inquired.

"Could I see your clearance card, please?" The guard asked.

"You couldn't just… slip us through, could you?" Letty asked with a fake smile.

"Sorry, ladies, but you need a security clearance card," the guard stated. "Do either of you have one?"

"No, but… maybe we could… arrange an… alternate clearance method?" Mia said seductively, turning around while pretending to look for something in the bag that she was carrying, arching her back, flaunting her ass through her leather skirt.

"What kind of… method?" The other guard asked, playing into the game.

"This one, motherfucker!" Letty said as she whipped out her gun, while Mia whirled around, her gun drawn, a look of malice on her face. The first guard moved his hand furtively under the desk to push the silent alarm. Letty moved forward, pushing the end of the barrel to the guard's head. Looking utterly ready to pull the trigger, she said in her low, gravelly voice, "Go ahead. Push that fucking button. See what happens." The guard gulped, and withdrew his hand. Both of the guards put their hands in the air, as Letty walked around the desk and motioned for the both of them to get up. They obeyed, and Letty took their guns, along with the clips that they carried. She also took their handcuffs. Mia pulled the duct tape out of her bag, while Letty forced them into the men's room. Letty threw Mia a pair of cuffs. Mia pointed at one of the guards, then at one of the stalls. The guard knew that meant "get in". He did, and Mia motioned him to sit, which he also did. She then handcuffed his hands around the pipe behind the toilet. Letty, who two stalls over, did the same thing. Mia picked up the duct tape and taped the guard's eyes and mouth shut. She walked over to the next stall and handed Letty the tape. Letty did the same as Mia did to the guard.

Mia, working as a medical receptionist, was also granted access to medical offices and supply rooms. Two nights previous to this one, she stole two syringes and a bottle of Rohypnol. Personally, she did not know why the office held this popular date rape drug, and she didn't really care. When she got home from work that night, she made the pills into a liquid, by holding a spoon over her stove. God, she thought. I feel like a drug addict.

Mia pulled out the two syringes each filled with 10cc of the drug. She handed one to Letty and then went back to her guard. She felt him tense as she put the needle into his bicep. As always, Letty did the same. After about a minute, the guards' heads were hanging, and the young women knew that the drug had worked. As a joke, Letty pulled down the pants of her guard. They shut and locked the stalls, and after locking them, crawled out from underneath. They both got up and walked out of the men's room. Mia got on her radio.

"All clear, guys," She said triumphantly.

They saw the black forms of Brian, Dom and Vince come through the doors, carrying duffel bags, which had parts to the drill in them. All of them came together as a group, and Brian, being the tactical leader, led them toward elevator 4, each of the men carrying a little bit of Jesse's huge drilling apparatus that he would need for the massive vault door. The all got in and Vince hit the "basement" button. They waited in silence for the elevator to come to a stop. It eventually did, and the doors opened. Dom got on his radio.

"Which way to the vault room from the elevators, Jess?" Dom asked. Jesse's voice came over the radio.

"Take a right and follow it till it you come to a 'T' with another hallway. Then make a left. The vault room is at the end," the voice instructed. Only it wasn't Jesse's voice. It was Leon's.

"Leon?" Dom asked through the radio.

"How did you know that dude?" Jesse's voice asked over the radio.

"Found a schematic in the security room… and if you guys wanna do some damage, I suggest you do it now. The cops are on the way," Leon's voice said, unusually coolly.

"WHAT? SHIT!" Dom's voice echoed through the hall. Everyone started to panic.

"Nah, I'm just kiddin', guys," Leon assured.

"Leon, I'm gonna kick your ass when we get outta here," Letty warned over the radio. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, when, from the door across the hall, a security guard came out. He took a look in front of him and dropped the cup of coffee that he was holding. He drew his gun before anyone else could.

"Freeze!" He shouted, pointing the gun directly at Dom, who was in front of the team. Dom, faster than lightning, grabbed the guard's wrist, twisting it away from his body, which caused a sickening cracking sound, and sent the guard into a screaming fit. Dom launched his fist into the man's face, knocking him out on the spot.

"He did _not_ know who he was fuckin' with," Dom said coldly, as if he had merely talked to, not seriously injure the man. They followed Leon's instructions and found themselves at a steel door that looked like it had been picked open. They walked into the room to find a man with handcuffs on his wrist and duct tape on his leg, ankles and mouth. He appeared to have been either knocked or passed out.

"I swear, it went off in my hand," a voice said from across the room. Everyone turned to find Jesse laughing at his own joke.

"Ok, let's get started," Brian said. They each took off the empty backpacks that they were wearing and threw them temporarily to the side. Brian, Vince and Dom set their bags at Jesse's feet, and, he got started setting up his equipment. Unbeknownst to the team, it wasn't just one big machine that Jesse needed, but several smaller ones, which included a standing drill, a torch, and a liquid nitrogen system, not to mention a bag to hold the fuel/drill bits/nitrogen. Letty, Mia, Jesse and Dom began to put together all of Jesse's tools, while Brian and Vince patrolled the door outside. Once the assembly was complete, there was nothing much more for the others to do other than patrol or watch Jesse.

He started by using the torch, taking out the small gear locks on the hugely thick door. This took a shorter time than it seemed. Next, though would be the longest part. Jesse loaded the 24 inch carbon steel drill bit into the standing drill. He placed the drill next to the biggest tumbler lock on the door and started to drill. This was a most uncomfortably noisy process, taking about 8 minutes. It felt like forever. Once the hole was drilled, the nitrogen hose went in. Jesse turned the valve on the tank, and out came the liquid nitro. It froze the inside of the door. Jesse then threw a small, prefabricated piece of C4 with a small, 10 second charge into the hole. The catalyst exploded, causing most of the nonmetal and some of the metal parts to break.

"Dom, help me open it," Jesse ordered. Dom walked over, and the two men pulled the vault door open. Everyone went in, except Brian and Vince, who insisted on staying by the door of the vault room, playing the guards. Vince got on his radio.

"How's it goin', Leon?" Vince asked over the radio.

"Everything's cool, brotha. Just hurry up. The longer we're here, the more nervous I'm getting," Leon stated. On the inside of the vault, there were 8 shelves each holding 3 or 4 mid-size safes. Jesse went over with his cutting lance, easily slicing through each of the small doors. Once the doors were all open, the team cleaned out the stacks of perfectly unscathed cash, putting it into their bags. Jesse began to disassemble all of his equipment, the members of the team helping him. This procedure was complete in 5 minutes.

"Everyone ready?" Dom asked. There was an unsynchronized chorus of the word "yes" from all of the team members. Everyone was packed and ready to leave. They exited the vault room, on to pick up Leon, who was still busy with the alarms. They made their way down the hall to the door labeled "Security". Brian poked his head inside the door and looked for Leon.

"Yo, Leon, time to go!" Brian said excitedly. Leon nodded, disabling the 45 second alarm one last time. He set his watch for 45 seconds. The whole team sprinted down the hall, for an unauthorized opening of the vault would surely trigger an alarm. The team flew out the door that led to the parking garage, and into their cars. They each pulled out, gunned the engines and flew out of the building parking structure expeditiously. They pulled onto the highway, heading home. Everyone, once they had gotten about 2 miles away from the building, the shouts of triumph were heard. Leon got on his radio.

"Whoo! Now that was some loco shit! Great job guys!" Leon exclaimed in excitement. Everyone was smiling. Their cars drove off toward home. The team had succeeded. This was the start of a brand new part of life for everyone.


End file.
